Hesitate
by Aoki Aoi 16
Summary: Basically a short boarding school AU paralleling to Annie's story in the anime, from Eren's POV. This is not an ErenXAnnie fic, but you can take it that way, I suppose. Oneshot.


**Italicized are Eren's thoughts. I'll edit this after I get back from vacation next week. **

Annie Leonhardt. She was always that one quiet girl in class. The one that almost no one talks to. The one who gets rumored about. No one knows why she is so quiet. She always has that frightening look on her face, one reason no one dares to talk to her. Bertholdt Hoover and Reiner Braun were the only students that remotely interacted with her, but even that would not be considered a friendship between the trio. More like acquaintances.

It was an ordinary day in P.E. Since our school was a boarding school, we had martial arts as part of the curriculum. Most of us found martial arts pointless, and only about half the class actually participated. My partner was Reiner that time. The larger one and I noticed Annie skipping, again. Reiner went up to her, and forced her to fight with me. At first, I thought I could take her down easily. Her leg appeared out of nowhere, and she had kicked me down within seconds. She then did the same to Reiner. I asked her who taught her to fight like that, amazed by her fighting skills. She replied, with a distant look on her face, that it was her father. She walked away, saying learning martial arts was pointless. I never would've suspected anything suspicious out of this until later months to come.

Time had slipped by since the martial arts incident. Once sophomore year started, I didn't see Annie as much, we didn't have any classes together. One day, there was news that Mrs. Zoe's class pet guinea pigs were found dead. They were slashed with some kind of blade in the nape of their neck, crimson blood now dried on their once soft fur. I didn't think much of it at the time. I just wondered who would've done such a thing. Why would someone kill those guinea pigs like that. There were some students that didn't like guinea pigs, but it just didn't make any sense. I never would have thought things at our school could get worse after that.

It was only a few weeks later that something happened again. Lives were taken away. And it wasn't just a guinea pigs's life. Almost everyone in the back left wing of the school was murdered. Some looked as if they were squashed, beaten, or thrown. The windows were shattered, glass was everywhere in the halls, tainted red from all of the blood from the lifeless corpse by the time I had reached the corridor. I was one of the few survivors of the massacre. The murder had a hood on, as they mercilessly beat the life out of the innocent. I tried to put up a fight with the killer. I pushed the killer into the wall. But the killer fought back, and before I knew it, I was unconscious. At least I was only unconscious. Some of my other friends weren't so lucky.

The school was frantic. Who could have killed so many students, and how? Why? The school even suspected someone in the school had committed such a crime. I didn't want to think of it like that. There was a good chance someone I knew could have been the one who committed the massacre. One gets to know a lot of people when living in a boarding school.

It was soon after, that Armin wanted me to come and see Principal Smith. He brought along Mikasa and Jean with him as well, because all of us were at the scene the day of the massacre.

Once we got in we sat down and went straight to the topic. Armin broke the ice. He said he believed Annie, was the cold blooded killer. He explained his reasons to why he was sure that Annie was the killer, how she could have faked her alibi. I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to believe it. Annie, the quiet girl I had known since middle school, a killer? That couldn't be true! Why would Annie do such a thing! But what Armin had said made sense. He may have been wrong, but he had a strong argument. Armin convinced the principal. Mr. Smith told us he had a plan. He would evacuate the school, and have us bring Annie to him, so she wouldn't suspect anything.

The next day, after school, Armin was with Annie. He brought her to us, and we were heading toward Principal Smith's office. Annie stopped midway through, when we were half way down the stairs, to the basement where the principal's office was. She stood, atop the stairs. She spoke to Armin. She asked him why there were no people around. Why he was leading her to the basement of the school. Armin spoke back. He told her why he suspected her. He told her he didn't want to believe she was the one who killed all of the innocent. I was done with these two's talk. I just wanted to know if Annie was really the one. I yelled at her, telling just to come, so she can prove herself innocent. She didn't come. She didn't answer, she ran off.

I felt blood rage within my body._ She's a killer. A cold blooded killer. A killer that needs to be stopped. A killer that needs to be punished._ Instinctively, my legs picked up and started chasing after her.

She held a bat in her hand as she ran, deliberately dragging the bat across the windows, causing them to smash to the ground. My mind filled with rage. A_nnie, the girl who was always so quiet. The girl who always looked extremely bored. The girl who claimed martial arts was pointless, yet had extraordinary skills at. She was a liar. I should've been able to see right through her lies. She's a terrible liar. Annie, why?! How the hell did you kill all my friends?! Are you even human?! _

I grabbed her from behind, and punched her in the elbow, which felt stone hard. She shinned me in the arm, in an attempt to deform my face. Pain roared in my arm. _I hate her. I must stop her, from killing more!_ I grabbed her leg, and threw her across the hall, she landed on some broken glass, near the bend of the hall. I charged toward her. However, her reflexes reacted quickly, she ducked and threw herself around the corner. God,_ she's strong. _

I charged toward her again, but she kicked me in the shin. Pain continued to rage in my leg, blood trickling down from cuts, falling to the broken glass now tainted crimson. She had me cornered in the hall. Her legs continued to kick at my body. Left and right her foot kicked, her arms punched: my legs, my arms, my gut, my head. I could see the sticky blood gushing out of an open wound on my head. I felt the metallic taste of blood on my tongue, and felt the teeth that were no longer in tact with my gums. I felt, so dead... _I need to fight, get up Eren! She's not going to stop, she's not going to show you any mercy!_ One last strong merciless punch landed on my face, knocking more of my teeth out. She suddenly stopped and turned away, and turned back around. My vision was hazy and red from blood and pain, but I could faintly see a look of guilt on her face. I could see her blurred body fade into the distance.

_Eren, get up. Go after her! _My body ached all over, excruciating pain ringing all over my blood stained body. _I MUST GET HER!_

My body sprang up and my legs sped forward. My body felt as if it were on fire, burning. Yet I felt no pain. I had endured so much, my body was numbed from the pain. I faintly heard a scream, which I figured out was my own. I tripped over multiple times. I felt my body collide to the ground, but I got up, faster and faster each time. The distance between the blonde monster was getting smaller and smaller. I grabbed her from behind and pushed her to the ground.

What was important was getting at the killer. Punishing her. I squeezed my blood covered hands over her face. My hand wanted to slip because of the sticky blood, I kept my grip firm to make sure she was under my control. She was yelping out in pain, like a hunted animal. I made out the blood that spattered from her face. My grip slipped, she was free. I saw her run up the stairs. I forced my body up, chasing her up the stairs. Her adrenaline was running out, she was tiring out. I slammed open the last door, realizing we were on the rooftop of the school.

I froze. I saw her, my vision more clear now. She stood on the rails, her balance completely perfect. Blood stained her face, yet I could faintly see lighter red shades of liquid slip down her cheeks from her eyes. Her eyes were closed, as if she were sleeping. Her once golden hair tainted red blew in the wind. That was when, she jumped.

* * *

I awoke in a hospital room. Mikasa, Jean and Armin told me everything that happened. When Annie had run off, I had gone and chased after her. Mikasa and Armin had tried to stop me, but I wasn't in the state of mind to be stopped. The school had been evacuated already. Mikasa and Armin told Principal Smith what had happened between me and Annie. He and some of the teachers ran inside to see what was happening, to try to find us. They searched everywhere around the blood trails and broken glass, which seemed to be found all over the corridors of the school. They had come to the roof when one of the teachers outside reported that the girl, Annie, jumped off of the building.

They told me I was lucky to live and survive. I felt oddly much better, as if nothing had happened to me. My body was only bruised, and only a few minor wounds. My teeth were all in tact. I must have imagined the fight was worse than I thought. Annie, on the other hand, was not as lucky. She did, miraculously survive, but she was in a comatose state. If she were to wake up, she would not be the same girl anymore. Brain damage. She would be even more insane than she already was. The doctors couldn't tell if she would ever wake up. Maybe that was for the better.

Armin, Mikasa and Jean asked what had happened to me, why I had that fight. I really didn't know, why. I felt, it had to be done. She murdered many, and I felt as if it were my responsibility to punish her. I told them all about how Annie had chosen to attempt suicide. Mikasa reassured me it was not my fault she hurt herself Armin said she must have been going through depression, explaining why she had murdered so many, why she fought so hard with me, and why attempted to leave this world early. So many unanswered questions, that girl left behind us.

I felt as if I had failed myself. I let Annie die. I couldn't quite explain, but I felt as if this wasn't the first time I had let her die. Her fight moves felt so foreign, yet so strongly familiar. The same could be said with her death. Somewhere, I knew I had fought her before. I knew had seen her face, those same tears falling down her cheeks. The tears that made me hesitate to make my next move. The tears that possibly lead to her downfall.

**Okay, this was a little rushed at the beginning, sorry about that. I based this mainly off the last episode of SnK. Didn't turn out as good as I wanted it to, but tell me what you think in the reviews, PLEASE. Bye!**


End file.
